by AMY BARRATT

What sings like an angel, and farts like a nine-year-old class clown?

The answer is a very unusual evening of entertainment called Marinade, conceived by Gabrielle Maes and going on this Sunday at la Sala Rossa.

Maes is a Classical singer - she makes her living performing and teaching - who wants to do more than chill spines with glorious notes: she also wants to tickle funny bones. While living in Paris in 2003–2004, Maes wrote "this slapstick, ridiculous cabaret" that became a huge success. "It was very amateur in some ways," she says. "The costumes were very basic and we were in this tiny space, but we kept having to extend the dates because it was so popular."

Now, native Montrealer Maes has brought that hey-kids-let's-put-on-a-show mentality back to Mile End. She has appeared as various goofy characters, including a bag lady and a humourless academic, at Kiss My Cabaret (currently on hiatus for the summer, much to the chagrin of the regulars). These bits, it turns out, were sneak peaks at an original show Maes is working on called Evolution of a Singer. She will perform a section of the show in Marinade, an evening of comedy and music that also features another KMC regular, the exquisitely deadpan Dr. Avocado. The evening can lay claim to bilingualism through the participation of singer-songwriter Francine Christie and vocal ensemble Ko. Maes is accompanied on piano by Hugh Cawker, who also gamely plays all of the male characters in Maes's slightly sordid tale.

The cabaret audience may get a glimpse of Maes's classical side, but this show features mostly standards from the American Songbook. "I've always been a bit of a buffoon, and I love to write," she says. "This show allows me to bring all of my loves together. There's an almost Marx Brothers-ish slapstick humour combined with - I hope - a fairly sophisticated level of music."

In accommodation of the singers on the bill, the evening will be non-smoking. Drinking, on the other hand, is encouraged. For those still unsure, Maes makes a bold claim: "This evening is guaranteed to make you laugh, or we'll give you your money back."

Musical fever

This is, of course, also Boudoir weekend. The main event takes place Saturday night in St-Henri's historic Corona Theatre. It's an appropriate venue for the show's vaudeville-burlesque revivalism with a sapphic flavour. Featured acts include San Francisco's the Harlem Shake, the Tap Rockettes, Les Walkyries, Sasha Van Bon Bon and Christopher Noelle, and the Mambo Drag Kings. The pièce de résistance is Nathalie Claude's latest Vaudeville musical Les Mauvaises Filles. Doors open at 8 p.m., show is at 9 sharp, $25 at the door.

The Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre's musical Lies My Father Told Me, originally scheduled to close tonight (June 30) has added two extra shows, Sunday, July 3 at 2 and 7 p.m.. Adapted from the book by Ted Allan with music and lyrics by Elan Kunin, the show has been a hit with critics and audiences alike. Call 739-7944 for reservations.

Marinade is at Sala Rossa (4848 St-Laurent), Sunday, July 3, at 8 p.m., $15, 277-2359.

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